The Oil in My Veins
by Spazztic Revenge
Summary: (AU) Lightning was an outdated machine that had lost her purpose. Hope was a 28-year-old human that couldn't help but continually question his existence. When circumstances lead the two to each other, can they find their reason for being? Is this fate giving them a sign, or is this the beginning of their end?
**A/N: Okay, so I got this request for a human Hope x robot Lightning fic and I couldn't ignore it. It sounded so new and fun, but also really weird, so I thought why not? This will probably end up a three or four shot or something of the sort, definitely not as long as my other fics, but we'll see where it goes.**

 **Hope you enjoy and review! Let me know if it's even worth continuing!**

* * *

The car came out of nowhere, swerving up onto the curb and gunning for him. Hope could only watch, all survival instincts rendered inoperable as he stared at the incoming car, not quite comprehending the imminent crash. He was going to be hit. He was going to die. People were screaming and running, but he could only stand there. The tires shrieked, the car driving through an unfortunate glass table that stood in between it and its prey. It was coming for him, and he had nowhere to run.

A flash of pink came into his vision and suddenly someone was in front of him. With incredible force, he was shoved away and flung into the wall of a near Mom and Pop's store. He took the hit with a grunt, his head smacking against the brick as a loud screech accompanied by a sickening thud disturbed his ears. Hope looked up to see a blurry figure fall lifeless to the ground as the car sped off.

Shakily, he stood, trying his best to recover from his new injury. He looked around, making sure that the car was truly well and gone before he let his guard down. When all seemed clear, the silveret went to look for his savior, the woman who had taken the hit for him. He could only pray that she had survived.

He made it to the woman's side just to find that she wasn't a woman at all. It was a humanoid robot. She was incredibly damaged, her left arm missing and her right foot hanging limply from her limb. Most of her skin was in shreds and her circuits were far too exposed, all due to the burns and bullet holes that had mutilated her cybernetic body. It was amazing that she had even been functioning. This damage hadn't come from the wreck, so how had she still been moving? How did she make it here? Why did she protect him? Her uniform and pauldron indicated that she was a Guardian Corps model, definitely not one of the Academy.

A spark shot out from her eye socket, causing him to jolt back. Her fingers twitched and her body jerked, her mouth moving, but no sounds came. Her functioning eye found his concerned gaze, burning into it with desperate urgency. A tight whirring sounded from her open chest cavity. Hope knew that was a really bad sign.

"Director!"

Shouts of his name and title came to him and he could see in his periphery the medics and Academy officers running his way, but he couldn't take his eyes off of the struggling gynoid. It was like she had a message that she needed to convey. He wasn't just going to let his savior die without her last words being heard.

She gave another few false starts before her hand found his, gripping it far too tightly. The whirring died down as another slew of sparks flew from her eyes and an inky black dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Hope watched helplessly, finding that it all looked incredibly painful, even if she was only essentially a robot and wasn't programmed to feel a thing. He always hated this, watching a life be taken right before his eyes. The medics had just reached him by the time the female android managed to sputter out her message.

"Serah…"

The whisper was her last as she stilled and a black puddle began to spread beneath her. Her hand still gripped his, but the intensity vanished as he was pulled from her side.

* * *

Hope couldn't understand it. He couldn't get his head around it no matter how long he sat thinking about it. Someone tried to kill him… They tried to take his _life_. Sitting within the confines of the hospital, Hope tried to grasp the concept. He was just a man, a researcher that had been just another grunt until he'd been promoted to Director two years before. He hadn't done anything wrong in his work, nor did he have a hand in anything even hinting at malicious. He didn't do anything that could have been misconstrued as suspicious in his home life, either. He hardly even left Academy headquarters but once a week, his usual trip to the cemetery during Sunday's most bitter hours.

His enemies were few and far between. His only real adversaries were the higher ups, representatives and board members of the Academy that didn't particularly care for him or his methods. He was too young, too naïve. He felt it every time he walked into the meeting room to face men twice his age, their eyes filled with a certain clairvoyance of his failure. Every time he had an opinion, he had to fight for his place and the respect he was due within his world.

But still, he didn't think any of them would go so far as to run him down in the street. So, who was it? And why?

"Director!"

Emerald eyes glanced up to find his assistant in the doorway, her chest heaving with uneven breaths and her face contorted in a mixture of relief and irritation. Before he could even get a word in to halt the coming lecture, she was by his side, arms wrapped around his neck in a near chokehold as she held him tightly. "A-Aly…ssa… could you…?"

She jumped back with a sniffle, not even sorry for nearly accomplishing his assailant's job with not even a quarter of the mess or hassle. She was much too angry at the man. "For Etro's sake, Director! What were you thinking? Going off without notifying me? I was worried sick, you know?!"

"Alyssa, I-" He was cut off once more by a hug, one that was at least a little less constricting. "Alyssa, I'm fine." A choked sob sounded by his ear and he grimaced as she gripped him tighter. "Really, you can't get rid of me that easily."

She pulled back, giving him a light slap on his forearm. "You would have died if it weren't for that rogue G.C. guard. How dare you make light of this!"

Taking the sting of her words to heart, his gaze sunk to his bed. He knew Alyssa was devoted, and that she looked up to him as a mentor, but the fact that she cared this much was more than a little overwhelming. One of her tears dripped down onto his arm and he could feel it seeping down into his soul. He needed to take his life more seriously. If not for himself, then at least for the people he cared about. "It won't happen again. Promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she whispered as she grasped his hand, her nails digging in.

Her grip reminded him of the gynoid's and he found his curiosity blossoming once more. "The guard… have they found anything out about her?"

Alyssa sat by his side, but didn't let go of her director's hand even as she brought her tablet out in front of her. "The gynoid is an older G.C. model. One of the originals, actually. It was on the first line when the Guardian Corps guard was created. For nearly its entire existence it has been a domestic guard for the Farrons, a very affluent family in Bodhum. There was an incident in their compound and due to protecting the youngest Farron from harm, it was damaged extensively. The family determined that it was a good time to finally replace it, rather than repair it. It was marked for purge and picked up for incineration."

"That explains why she was so beat up…" So she'd been marked for death, kind of like him. Hope sat up, subtly withdrawing his hand from the blonde at his side. "How did she end up saving me?"

Alyssa noted the reverence in his tone, but didn't comment on it. "They aren't sure. The G.C., Sanctum, PSICOM, and even the Academy all use the same service, fal'Cie industries. According to them, it booted up in its terminal and broke out of the truck, intent on following its original focus."

"And her focus was to protect the Farron family?"

Alyssa nodded and placed her hand back on his as he seemed to be more than a little unsettled. "Are you alright, Director? Should I get the doctor?"

"Are any of the Farrons named Serah?" he asked, ignoring her burgeoning concern.

With a sigh, she turned back to the tablet, swiping across the screen to find the information. After all, she was an assistant first. At least, that was what she was always told. "Hmmm… yup. Their only daughter, Serah Farron."

"The one she protected…" Hope quickly stood, searching for his clothes. "Do you know where she is now?" He had to get to her. He'd never forgive himself if she'd already been purged while he was laying in his cozy hospital bed.

Alyssa gaped and tried to reach for him only for her hand to be hastily pushed away. "What are you thinking? You need to rest!" He seemed to pay her no mind as he stubbornly readied to leave. She blushed and turned around as he began shrugging out of his gown to put on his uniform. It wasn't the first time, but she still wasn't used to it. Spending long hours with a workaholic that could be wholly oblivious to her very feminine presence put her in some odd situations with the man. "Hello? You have a concussion. Not to mention that vile person that tried to _kill_ you is still out there and we have no idea who they are or if they'll strike again!" She huffed, knowing that her pleas fell on deaf ears. "It's in our lab. It took a lot of schmoozing, but I got them to let us run a diagnostic on it. They agreed, if only just to make sure that such an incident couldn't happen again. They know we have the best techs, so it shouldn't have been so hard to convince them."

Hope spun her around and gave her a tight hug, his exuberance nearly leaving him shaking. "Thank you."

"I figured you'd want a good mystery to solve after all of this," she stated with a smile. "But I had hoped that you would wait a few days…"

"I knew I could count on you." He punctuated this with a quick kiss to her cheek before almost running for the door. "You're a doll!"

Alyssa couldn't keep the stun from her face nor the heat from rising to her cheeks. A tan hand brushed gingerly over the spot where his lips had left her and she heaved a sigh. "Honestly, he has no clue what this does to me. That oblivious idiot."

* * *

It was a harsh reality that weighed on his shoulders as he looked down upon the broken body on the table of his workspace. It didn't look like she'd been touched since the incident, but something felt wrong as he stood over her. She wasn't human, but she wasn't just one of his little projects, either. She wasn't one of his assignments or a company proposal he was working on. She was a being all her own, laying lifeless on his table. He couldn't quite grasp having to examine and diagnose, possibly even dissect, such a creature. Not anymore…

"Why did you save me…?"

It was a question that had been rattling around in his head for hours. It was odd to admit, but he'd been thinking of that question far more than who had been after him or why they targeted him. The G.C. gynoid had a focus, to protect that girl. But why the detour? Why pause to protect some strange man? Why had she even been in the area when Bodhum, as well as her purge site, were a decent 16 hour drive away?

"Alright, what do you have me slaving over today?"

Hope turned around as Maqui joined him in the room. The look that came over his face as the blond glimpsed his new assignment was one of fascination and wonder. "You heard about this morning, right?"

Maqui's eyes snapped over to the silveret as he picked his jaw up off of the floor. "Yeah…" A look of guilt flashed briefly in his eyes before it morphed into concern. "Shit, right, I'm sorry, man. I've been up for like thirty hours. Are you okay? Should you even be out of the hospital yet?"

He let out a light laugh, shaking his head. "It's okay. It's a refreshing reaction. I practically had to peel Alyssa off of me."

"I'll bet."

"No, I'm good. This is actually the gynoid that took the hit that was intended for me."

Maqui joined his side at the table, eyes roving over the being before him. "Man, she's pretty torn up, but she's a gorgeous model. They don't make ones of her caliber anymore, that's for sure. See these sensors?" He gently overturned some of her flaking skin, pulling a magnifier in to see closer. "They allow her to have a honed sense on her focus. Considering that she's a guardian model, that would be whoever her charge was. She's almost able to link her mind with theirs by a simple touch." Maqui stepped back, biting his lip as he could hardly contain himself. "They quit making them like this because not only did it cost a pretty penny, but it caused some of the guards to form an abnormal attachment to their charges."

"But she's not human. How can she become attached?"

Maqui shrugged. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Anyway, I was told I'm supposed to run a diagnostic, but I might have to repair some of her internal circuitry and," Maqui popped open her drive hatch below her left ear and gave a rough cough as a puff of harsh gray smoke wafted off of the chip, "the memory drive, which is not supposed to be smoking like that."

"Do you think there's any way she could be fully repaired…?" Hope almost regretted his words, but realized that he wanted to know, he needed to know. Why did she save him? And was it his duty to save her in return?

Maqui gave him a sidelong glance, putting down his tools before considering the question. He was itching to dig around in such a technological gem, but why did the director want to know? "She was built to take this kind of damage. A shield is meant to survive through all to protect its wielder. And if she really did make it to you in this condition, then I'd say it's a possibility. But… I can't just go messing around with the Guardian Corps' toys. Especially not if it's one of your pet projects. We _all_ remember Alexander…"

"She's not a toy, Maq," Hope spoke, more than a little offended. "And she isn't theirs, not for long. She was marked for purge. What do you think it'll take to get them to sign her over to me?"

"But why?"

"Just try to get her up and running, okay? You're my best guy for a job like this," he said, giving him a pat on the back. "I'll deal with the red tape."

Maqui heaved a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes, though he couldn't keep the glee from shining through his putout façade. "Fine, but you have to be the one to tell Lebreau that I can't make it to our date tonight."

The older man paused, turning to his friend with a grin. "You finally asked her?"

He scrunched up his nose in response, letting out a huff.

Hope could only chuckle. "You made the poor girl ask you?"

"Poor girl? I'm sorry, have you met Lebreau?"

"Maqui, I thought you were a gentleman."

"Ladies first, right?"

"Maker, you're such a train wreck."

"Sounds better coming from her mouth, but yeah, I know. I'll let you know when I've gotten anywhere, okay?"

Hope walked to the entrance, wishing he could stay, maybe help, but he left with another word of gratitude. He had some red tape to cut.

* * *

"It's not coming out of the research budget, right?" Alyssa asked as she gripped her tablet tight to her chest. "You know how that will look to the board. You only just got them off your back after last time."

Setting his glasses over to the side, Hope gave her a noticeably perturbed glare. "It's out of my own pocket, alright? I'm not an idiot. And last time has nothing to do with this time. Can we please just drop it?" It had already been a week since Hope had tasked Maqui with repairing the gynoid. Hope had done as he'd said, she was officially under his care now, even if it cost him a shipload more than something that had previously been marked for scrap should have.

"I just don't see how it's necessary. I mean, it's just an old gynoid. You already have Academy guards. Did you want one for personal use? 'Cause you could just buy a new one…"

Alyssa had been pestering him about it nonstop, too. He didn't know why it seemed to irk her so much. He just wanted to fix the gynoid that saved his life. Was that so hard to understand?

"I'm sure there are others that are-"

"It's not that I don't appreciate your concern," Hope began, wearily rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, "but this is a choice I made. What's done is done. Can we move on to the Houtachin business briefing now?"

Her eyes widened before slowly glancing down at the memo before her. She briefly thought about keeping it from him. She knew how easily obsessed he could become with his projects, and how completely careless he could be towards his own basic needs during those times. It was simply an interest in keeping her boss healthy. That was all. "Actually… DeWald says he has some news. He said you should come see him when it's convenient because "her machinery is _legendary_ and he's a _god_ that managed to get a part of her back online," spoke Alyssa in her best impression of Maqui, fingers tilted in air quotes.

A smile bloomed across his face as he immediately rose from his chair. "That'll be all today, Alyssa. Thank you." She didn't even have time to object before he was out of the room.

* * *

Hope entered the third floor of the Research and Development department, easily making his way over to Maqui's workspace. The man was currently hunched over the table with his microscopic goggles on and looking intensely at the gynoid's open chassis, pliers in hand as he examined some of the more worrisome frayed wiring. "A God, huh?"

"Sure am. Get on your knees and worship the almighty Maqui DeWald. I may answer your prayers, if I deem you worthy."

"What a benevolent deity you are. Should I erect a monument in your honor while I'm at it? Or maybe an entire planet? I don't think a monument could capture your ego."

With a snort, Maqui set his pliers to the side and slid his goggles up into his hair. "You say that now, but just you wait. Once you witness my greatness, you'll be spending your days eating those words."

"And what is this greatness I'm to witness?" Hope stepped up beside the table, staring down at the guard. She was still thoroughly wrecked only now nearly every part of her was exposed, pulled apart for analysis.

"I was testing her processor's current signal output when I came across this weird frequency being emitted from her."

He watched as Maqui brought up her diagnostic panel on the monitor before them, blurred images flitting over the screen. It was all fractured and fuzzy, hazy pictures left with a filter of snow, but from what was visible, Hope could see reoccurring people. From what he'd seen in her file, the pictures were of the Farron family. "These are her memories…"

"Yup," Maqui replied, not even attempting to keep the smugness from his expression. "And watch this." Taking a screw driver out of the pouch of his gray coveralls, he turned a screw in the back of her processor. When it was tightened, he drew back, waiting.

A few moments elapsed before a loud click sounded from the inside of her head, leading Hope to frown before her undamaged eye blinked open. Her gaze adjusted and floated around the room before landing on Hope. The silveret was stunned to see her running. He'd almost given up on her… He was about to speak before he was cut off.

"S-Ser… S… Serah…"

Emerald eyes widened as he joined her side, soon taking her hand. He knew it was stupid, treating a machine as if it were an injured person seeking comfort, but it felt necessary somehow. It felt… right. "It's okay. Serah is alright."

At the news, her body jolted, hand gripping Hope's entirely too hard. "Se-Serah! I have to-to…" Her voice started to hitch, malfunctioning as she struggled against her dying body. "I... have… s-she is-s-s…"

Hope winced as her grip began to hurt. He tried to pull back while still attempting to calm her, but she seemed to only become more distressed. "Serah is fine. You saved her." She kept struggling, eventually trying to get up as she moved body parts that weren't even supposed to be functioning in her state. "She's okay now. Serah doesn't need you anymore."

The gynoid jolted away, her grip slackening before her hand was suddenly at his throat, tightly constricting his airflow. Hope fell back onto the floor, her broken body falling after him as she kept a tight grasp on his neck. He fought, kicking and clutching at her hand, trying to get her off. He couldn't breathe and he could feel the tears coming to his eyes as it felt like she was crushing his windpipe. Her strength was too much for him, even in her damaged state.

Hope's consciousness began to fade. He didn't know why the gynoid was suddenly trying to hurt him. She saved him. Why would she want to kill him? There was rage in her eyes as she strangled him, but Hope could see something deeper, stronger. It was an emotion that went way beyond her programming, something he had never witnessed in one of her kind before. It broke his heart.

With the last of his strength, Hope grabbed onto her arm, fingers clutching at flaked skin and dented metal. His eyes met hers and he tried to show her that he meant no harm. He tried to connect with her on a level he thought she might be able to understand. She wasn't human, but there was something very human within her. "Light… ning…"

Her eyes flashed with regret and she let him go, Hope quickly coughing as he gasped in rough breaths. He turned to see her quietly withdrawing, dragging herself away from him with confusion etched into her features. Before she could get far, her body suddenly went rigid and fell to the floor with a loud clunk. Maqui was then by his side, helping him up.

"Damn, are you okay? That thing just suddenly snapped and she was on you! I had no idea she still even had that kind of juice in her."

Pulling himself away from his friend's frantic hands, the director got ahold of his breathing, though his throat still burned like hell. "Is that nor-" He let out a rough cough, nearly doubling over before recovering. "…normal for her?"

Maqui adamantly shook his head. "Last time all I got were the mutterings of Serah. I was just glad she was running!" He ran a hand through his sandy locks, flopping down into his chair as he eyed the collapsed gynoid. "I had to manually unplug her from the system. I thought she was gonna kill you, man!"

"…But she didn't." Hope stood straight, still rubbing his abused neck as if that would effectively sooth the pain away.

"What was it you called her?"

"Lightning," he rasped. "I read it in her file. It was the name the Farron's gave her."

"Why didn't you tell me that? I've been calling her L-3B-078 for the past week."

"Her serial number? Sorry, it never came up." Hope tried to walk forward, but became too light-headed and gripped the tool tray by his side.

"Dude, we should probably get you to the hospital." Maqui jumped up and came to his side, worry creasing his brows.

"No, this… this isn't from her. I get dizzy spells every once and a while since-"

"The attempt on your life." Maqui stepped back, but didn't relax as he watched his friend. "How's the investigation? Are they even sure it was really someone trying to kill you?"

Collecting himself as the room began to settle around him, he cleared his throat. It felt like he had swallowed sandpaper. "Witnesses said that the car didn't swerve or seem to be having any difficulties. It drove straight towards me. The traffic cameras corroborate. So, unfortunately it really was. The police don't know anything yet, and before you say anything," Hope held up a hand, stopping Maqui mid-sentence, "I'm fine. I refuse to let this take over my life. I'm going to keep working and whatever protests you have, I'm sure I've already heard them. Alyssa and your girlfriend are worry warts."

The blond sighed, peeved. "We're your friends. You almost died and still could. Forgive us for being concerned." Hope didn't comment further and looked to be moderately stable on his feet, so Maqui turned back to his previous assignment. "You should really get your neck looked at, at least. What do you want me to do with her? Before you ask me to keep working on her, I don't feel like getting maimed."

"Of course not. It's obvious that she's far too dangerous to be repaired. Just leave her be and go get some rest. I'll have her picked up in the morning."

The young Academy tech's head whipped around, stunned at hearing Hope back down so quickly. "You sure? I thought you were adamant that you wanted her fixed. You even bought her from the G.C." He looked back over the fallen gynoid. He still didn't see what Hope saw in her. She was a pretty rare find, sure. Most of her kind had been aged out and replaced already. She was also a very strong android. He didn't know of any that could pull off such feats while being so thrashed, and he'd worked on his fair share. But that wasn't enough for all of this trouble. Although, he always hated disappointing his friends. Almost as much as he hated leaving a job unfinished. "You know, I could probably just keep her in safe or sleep mode until I find the bugs in her programming. She probably had something snap in her judgement processor or-"

Hope stopped Maqui with a hand on his shoulder, giving him a somber smile. "Really, it's alright. I wouldn't want anything happening to one of our best techs. And I'm sure I've kept you from your duties for long enough."

He didn't like the look of defeat on his friend's face, but there was no use arguing and Hope had a point. "One of your best techs? What do you mean 'one of'? Maqui tried his best to sound offended, but his voice lost its edge.

Giving a quiet chuckle, Hope turned to leave. "Just get her ready to go. I should be heading home soon. I have a meeting with a detective tomorrow morning."

"Should you be going out by yourself?"

"Oh, don't worry," spoke Hope, a lilt of annoyance to his tone, "I have a police escort watching my back when I leave the building."

"Someone's finally showing some common sense."

"Shut up."

* * *

Hope awoke with his heart beating a mile a minute, the pounding overwhelming his ear drums. His body shook and his black sheets stuck uncomfortably to his sweat-slicked skin. He kicked them away, trying to calm himself as he turned and sat up on the side of his bed.

Every night was the same. His sleep was marred by the screeches of tires and the crunch of metal. The incident was still so vivid that he could still feel the glass shards nicking his skin and the heavy blow to the back of his head. The smell of motor fluid still resided in his nose and he had to keep from gagging.

Hope stood, running a shaky hand through his mussed up hair. He knew this was normal. He had almost been killed and it had only been a week. That didn't mean that he wasn't just as agitated by it all as he was disturbed by it. He kept a good front up in front of his friends and coworkers. What else was he supposed to do? He didn't want to be sent home or have one of his friends try to take care of him like he was some kind of invalid. He already didn't like the concerned looks he was getting from everyone. He couldn't bear it if they got worse. And he didn't want to give the board any excuse to get rid of him. He had to be above reproach. He couldn't lose his job. It was all he had.

Seeing as he wasn't getting any more sleep, Hope changed and dressed into some work clothes. He made his way down to his shop that laid in the basement of his house. He had a project to attend to.

The gynoid laid waiting where he'd left her before heading to bed. She was spread out on his work bench, now even more messed up since her little stunt the day before. She'd torn apart more of her wiring and Hope sighed as he thought over how much work he had ahead of him.

He hated lying to Maqui, but he had to fix her somehow. He didn't think that she would attack again, but he wasn't willing to put Maqui's life on the line. So he would fix her himself. He needed answers and if he had to get those himself, then that was fine by him. It had been awhile since he had worked on an android. The last time had taken away his desire to work on them for the rest of his life, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't at least a little intimidated when looking at the work ahead of him.

But he would do it. He had to.

Maqui had accomplished a lot, but there was still much to do. He spent hours trying to get her processor and memory restored. By the time her programming was updated and her chest was put back together, Hope felt exhaustion creeping into the edges of his consciousness. It would take another few days to get even half of her functioning, and he had yet to do a test. New parts for her arm, foot and eye had yet to be bought, and he would have to take her in for a skin graft, but he was already proud of his work. Nothing had exploded, at least. It was already a good day.

" _A detective Ellslee is at the door_ ," came a rather gruff voice over the house speaker, causing Hope to perk up. _"His blood pressure is high and his pupils are dilated 2 millimeters larger than normal. He appears rather agitated. I would exercise caution."_

The silveret found it highly amusing that Alexander felt the need to run a biometric scan on his new guest. "It's okay, big guy. I'll be fine." Hope made his way up to the door, uncaring of his disheveled state. He was unsurprised to see that Alexander's observations had been right. The detective looked to be in a sour mood.

"Your automated system told me you'd be at the door soon. I'm stunned that you don't have a server-droid to get it for you. You certainly have the money for it."

Hope simply smiled in response to the detective's grumblings and stood to the side to allow him entrance. "I find those things to be too extravagant for my taste."

"And your voice system isn't? I could never afford one on my salary."

"Well, I have him more out of nostalgia than necessity. Would you like some tea? Coffee?"

Looking him over with a critical eye, Ellslee shook his head. "I'm good. You look about ready to keel over. You should probably sit down."

"Just overworked myself again, is all. I have that habit." Hope led him into the living room where he plopped down onto the couch across from him.

"Don't we all. I've got four mouths to feed at home. You mind if I smoke?" The director gave his permission with a dismissive wave of his hand, but he could tell that the kid minded by the minute scrunch of his nose. He shrugged it off, lighting his cigarette and staring at the young Estheim before him. He really did look like hell. If he didn't get more sleep, he wasn't going to have to worry about what was after him. There were some odd and horrifically purple bruises almost hidden beneath the collar of his shirt. He knew those weren't from the accident. The boy must have noticed him staring, because he tugged his shirt up higher. Ellslee didn't comment on it.

Hope took in the other as well, noting that the hand holding his vice was trembling more than normal, but it was also his non-dominant hand. The ash-haired man hadn't shaved and he looked a little more haggard than the last time he'd seen him. The pair of them must have been some sight. "So, is there any news?"

It was disconcerting how calm the kid was considering his situation. Ellslee thought that he had only been in shock the first couple of times he'd seen him, but it seemed that the director had a good poker face, even if his voice held a slight tremble that betrayed his current demeanor. "Hate to say it, but I've come empty handed. The cameras lost track of the car around the fourth district about an hour after the incident. It was found abandoned a few days ago outside of the city, completely wiped clean. It had been stolen a few weeks prior and had switched plates. I'm sorry to say that it was a dead end."

Eyes falling to the floor, Hope tried not to look too dejected by the information. Despite what he tried to tell himself, he was actually quite scared. The sound of scraping metal and flashes of sun glinting off shattered glass had him involuntarily leaning forward and holding his head as it throbbed.

"You okay, kid?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Just the concussion talking."

"You're lucky that's all you walked away with."

He gave a strained smile as he straightened back up in his seat. "What happens now?"

"Seeing as we have no other leads, I'm not sure what else we can do. None of the witnesses got a good look at anything but the car. No one has made any real threats against your life, and all of your friends and coworkers checked out-"

"Excuse me," he interrupted, "what do you mean 'checked out'?"

"We ran background checks on all of them and interviewed a few. Normal procedure. That assistant of yours is a real piece of work. You two together or something? I thought she was a little suspicious at first, but that was just her personality apparently."

Hope chose not to dignify that with a response. "That all seems a little intrusive…"

"Hey, it's your neck on the line here."

Hope's eyes snapped up at his stern, almost angered tone. "Right, sorry. So… does that mean that there's nothing you can do?"

Sitting back, the aged detective took a long drink of his cigarette and breathed it out through his nose, watching as the smoke curled towards the ceiling. "Right now, there really isn't. There isn't even a way for us to know if it was an attack against you personally, an attack against your company, or just some psycho that was trying to take out any people on the street that he could. Personally," he sat forward, making sure that he had his full attention, "I think they were after you. Call it a hunch. But the department doesn't run on hunches, at least that's what my captain says. For now, they're icing your case until something new comes up." Ellslee's face softened some. "I'm sorry, but that's all there is. I thought you would have been one of those on the important list, but I guess you have to be _real_ fancy to get special treatment."

"Don't worry about it." He tried not to sound too bitter about it, but it was true. He was just the director of a research institute. It wasn't like he was the leader of the free world or anything. "I'm just a researcher at my core, anyway. I would hate to get special treatment and have my life pushed above more deserving people with worse cases."

Ellslee smiled, but he couldn't keep the look of worry from his eyes. He liked this kid. "I want you to watch your back. And if anything happens," he took a business card from the breast pocket of his rumpled suit and handed it to Hope, "please call me. I already got it signed off for you to have the police escort extended for another week, but that's all the pull I have. I'm sorry."

He gave a light, uneasy chuckle, pocketing the card. "It's not your fault, but thank you."

Getting up off of the couch, Ellslee gave a sigh, truly wishing he could do more for the young man. If they dropped his case and something happened to him…"You should try to-"

A loud crash emanated from the stairs, alerting the two to a new presence within the house. There were loud, thumping footsteps nearing the living room and it led the detective to pulling out his gun. "You have company?"

Hope shook his head, eyes wide as he stared at the entrance, waiting for the person to approach. His heart nearly stopped and all he could hear were the thumps coming closer and closer. It paused for a moment, and an odd groan of metal sounded from around the corner. Recognition sparked in his eyes, but he couldn't believe it. _It couldn't be…_

The presence finally came into view and revealed itself to be none other than the gynoid, up and running despite Hope's predictions. Leaning heavily on the wall with a wrench at the ready in her lone hand, she looked upon the two with wariness and subdued anger. "Where am I and who the hell are you people?"


End file.
